Inquest into the Death of Giovani Wade RYAN

No publication of the detail of the discussion about the police emergency driving policies and procedures

Summary : The deceased was a passenger in the front seat of a stolen vehicle when the driver of the vehicle lost control and it crashed, ejecting the deceased from the vehicle. The deceased was seriously injured and died later that morning in hospital although he remained on life support until the early hours of 6 October 2013. The deceased was 15 years of age.

The deceased was in the company of a group of friends on the evening of 4 October 2013 and the group were drinking alcohol. They walked into the Carnarvon town site and passed the carpark at the Tropicana Hotel. In the carpark the boys noticed a panel van with its windows down and keys in the ignition. The group got into the van with the deceased sitting in the front passenger seat while the oldest boy in the group got into the driver’s seat. The owner of the vehicle discovered his vehicle missing and reported it to the police who were parked outside the Tropicana carpark at the time.

Police later recognised the stolen vehicle and followed the vehicle which travelled at normal speed and manner of driving until the police activated their lights and sirens to stop the stolen vehicle. The driver of the stolen vehicle accelerated away from the police vehicle. Police officers advised the police station of their attempts to stop the stolen vehicle. A decision was made to abort any further attempt to intercept the panel van which was some distance ahead of the police vehicle and they deactivated the lights and siren. Police continued in the direction the panel van was travelling. Ahead they observed a dust cloud which had been created by the panel van. The police reached a T junction and observed a set of headlights facing in their direction at another intersection to their left. On approaching that intersection the police located the crashed panel van.

The driver of the stolen vehicle was later convicted of the offence of dangerous driving occasioning death with respect to the death of the deceased.

The Deputy State Coroner found the deceased died as a result of a head injury and found the death occurred by way of Unlawful Homicide.